1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an attachment for supporting a photographic instrument including a camera and a camera lens.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Camera attachments are known. The following 24 patents and published patent applications are the closest prior art references which are related to the present invention.    1. U.S. Pat. No. 538,534 issued to John W. O'Neill on Apr. 30, 1895 for “Book Holder” (hereafter the O'Neill Patent”);    2. U.S. Pat. No. 875,034 issued to Emmet R. Wright on Dec. 31, 1907 for “Tripod Head” (hereafter the “Wright Patent”);    3. U.S. Pat. No. 1,280,013 issued to Joseph Goddard on Sep. 24, 1918 for “Camera Mounting” (hereafter the “Goddard Patent”);    4. U.S. Pat. No. 2,180,214 issued to Charles Rapp on Nov. 14, 1939 for “Universal Head” (hereafter the “Rapp Patent”);    5. U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,116 issued to Luther W. Minnis on Jun. 26, 1956 for “Camera Supporting Heads for Tripods Or The Like” (hereafter the “Minnis Patent”);    6. U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,073 issued to Koma Nakatani on Jan. 4, 1972 for “Tripod” (hereafter the “Nakatani Patent”);    7. U.S. Pat. No. 3,737,130 issued to Yuki Shiraishi and assigned to Slick Tripod Co., Ltd. on Jun. 5, 1973 for “Hydraulically Operated Tripod Head” (hereafter the “Shiraishi Patent”);    8. U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,884 issued to Kurt Steisslinger et al. and assigned to Eastman Kodak Company on Jul. 24, 1973 for “Stand For Photographic Apparatus” (hereafter the “Steisslinger Patent”);    9. U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,583 issued to Calvin B. Yeates on Apr. 5, 1977 for “Camera Steadying Device” (hereafter the “Yeates Patent”);    10. U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,613 issued to Michael Hayes on Nov. 29, 1988 for “Camera Repair And Support Device” (hereafter the “Hayes Patent”);    11. U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,333 issued to Ivano Bolondi on Apr. 10, 1990 for “Easily Orientable Support For Optical And Photographic Instruments And The Like” (hereafter the “Bolondi Patent”);    12. U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,488 issued to James Fleming on Jan. 18, 1994 for “Adjustable Workstation For Vehicles” (hereafter the “Fleming Patent”);    13. U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,910 issued to Igor Haskin and assigned to Peerless Industries, Inc. on Aug. 4, 1998 for “Camera Mounting Apparatus” (hereafter the “Haskin Patent”);    14. U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,821 issued to Edward Phillips et al. and assigned to Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. on Sep. 15, 1998 for “Positionable Support Head” (hereafter the “Phillips Patent”);    15. U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,186 issued to Klaus Bothe et al. and assigned to Klaus Bothe et al. on Feb. 16, 1999 for “Support Device” (hereafter the “Bothe Patent”);    16. U.S. Pat. No. 6,254,044 issued to Li-Hwa Lee on Jul. 3, 2001 for “Tabletop Tripod” (hereafter the “Lee Patent”);    17. U.S. Pat. No. 6,352,228 issued to Werner Buerklin and assigned to FLM GmbH Foto-, Licht-und Messtechnisches Zubehor on Mar. 5, 2002 for “Tripod Head” (hereafter the “Buerklin Patent”);    18. United States Published Patent Application No. 2002/0179786 issued to Wei Jie Zheng on Dec. 5, 2002 for “ZWJ-Angle-Adjustment” (hereafter the “Zheng Published Patent Application”);    19. U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,774 issued to Michael J. Hailson on Feb. 4, 2003 for “Adjustable Mounting Apparatus” (hereafter the “Hailson Patent”);    20. U.S. Pat. No. 6,729,778 issued to Shing Ming Wu et al. on May 4, 2004 for “Fixture For Fixing Camera And The Likes Capable Of Adjusting The Pitching Angle Of The Camera” (hereafter the “Wu Patent”);    21. United States Published Patent Application No. 2005/0001116 issued to Phillippe Vogt on Jan. 6, 2005 for “Tripod Head” (hereafter the “Vogt Published Patent Application”);    22. United States Published Patent Application No. 2006/0000957 issued to Jeffrey D. Carnevali on Jan. 5, 2006 for “Universally Positionable Mounting Apparatus” (hereafter the “Carnevali Published Patent Application”);    23. U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,592 issued to Raymond V. Brandes on Apr. 4, 2006 for “Quick-Adjusting Mounting Head” (hereafter the “Brandes Patent”); and    24. United States Published Patent Application No. 2006/0175482 issued to Joseph Johnson on Aug. 10, 2006 for “Tripod Head” (hereafter the “Johnson Published Patent Application”).
The O'Neill Patent is for a book holder which discloses the concept of having a round surface entirely surrounding a spherical ball which can be rotated in any direction and that includes the altitude direction.
The Wright Patent discloses a tripod head that enables the camera to be articulated in any orientation. The tripod head includes having a ball bearing at the bottom with a tightening knob that enables the bearing to be rotated in any orientation so that the camera can be rotated.
The Goddard Patent discloses the concept of having a surrounding plate having U-shaped receiving openings in which the stem of the ball bearing can be received and affixed by a tightening screw.
The Rapp Patent discloses a clamping member which includes a notch so that a spherical head can be rotated so that a shaft affixed to the spherical head can be positioned within the notch.
The Minnis Patent discloses the concept of having a spherical ball which is surrounded by a tubular member having slots to receive a shaft from the spherical ball. There are four shafts spaced 90 degrees apart.
The Nakatani Patent discloses the concept of having a spherical body which supports a threaded rod to which a camera is attached and having a u-shaped slot surrounding an outer housing in which the spherical body is positioned so that it can be rotated to the horizontal position.
The Shiraishi Patent is a hydraulically operated tripod head. It discloses a cylindrical ball and a shaft used to support a camera and the fact that it can be rotated in any orientation including into the horizontal u-shaped slot so that the camera can be orientated in different directions.
The Steisslinger Patent is essentially a stand for photographic equipment and basically again has the concept of a ball bearing and a shaft extending therefrom with the ball bearing being rotatable into the housing when not in use and then rotatable to the elevated position.
The Yeates Patent discloses a concept of having a ball bearing so that a camera can be rotated in any orientation relative to the tripod by rotation of the ball bearing.
The Hayes Patent is once again disclosing a ball bearing used to orient a camera in different orientations.
The Bolondi Patent discloses a device for being able to orient the camera in different orientations.
The Fleming Patent is an adjustable workstation for vehicles. While not related to cameras, it contains a ball and socket arrangement. Specifically, the patent states: “Referring still to FIG. 3, the adjustability of the present invention is further enhanced by a ball-and-socket joint 20 which includes a ball portion 68 extending integrally from a stem 70 adapted to be directly coupled to the working surface 16. The socket portion 72 is fixedly secured to the extension portion 58 by means of a threaded pin 78. The ball portion 60 is held inside the joint 20 by means of a socket portion 72 over which a movable cover 74 is positioned. A clamp screw 76 is threaded through the cover 74 to engage a partially spherical exterior surface of the socket portion 72. The ball-and-socket joint 20 allows the working surface to be positioned in any number of orientations by allowing the stem 70 to be moved about an entire semi-spherical area within aperture 80 of the cover 74.”
The Haskin Patent is also a camera mounting apparatus which includes the concept of a ball bearing being able to rotate the security camera in various orientations due to a ball bearing structure.
The Phillips Patent discloses a ball bearing surface for positing the orientation of a camera which has in its unique features including a multiplicity of threads on the ball so that it increases the frictional force fit within its mating member.
The Bothe Patent discloses a support device for a camera. As with the other inventions, a holder of the support device is connected to a stand by a ball and socket joint with a socket constructed as a bridge. The bridge has a width which is narrower than the diameter of the ball and socket joint.
The Lee Patent discloses a tabletop tripod which once again has a spherical ball bearing as its rotatable surface. It also has slots surrounding the ball bearing so that the ball bearing can be rotated to various horizontal orientations. In this patent, the ball is fixedly connected to an equipment base and is mounted between concave faces of compression blocks such that the equipment base can be adjusted to virtually any desired position.
The Buerklin Patent discloses a tripod head having a cylindrical ball bearing for the purpose of orienting the tripod head in any orientation so that a threaded shaft attached to the ball bearing can orient a camera in any desired location.
The Zheng Patent Application has the concept of having a rotatable ball bearing with an adjustment threaded nut that presses against a ball bearing in order to orient the angle of the shaft to which the ball bearing is attached to any desired angle.
The Hailson Patent discloses an adjustable mounting apparatus for a camera which in this case has a ball wherein the orientation is determined by two clamping members on either side of the ball which lock the ball to a given orientation when the clamping members are fixed about the ball at a desired position.
The Wu Patent is a fixture for fixing a camera in an adjustable manner which contains a ball bearing with its own unique features for locking it in a given orientation.
The Vogt Published Patent Application discloses a tripod head that includes a cylindrical housing having a connection member at one end for a tripod, a ball joint rotatably and pivotally arranged in the housing, a bearing element for the ball joint, having a sliding surface contacting the circumference of the ball joint and arranged so as to be axially displaceable and rotatable in the housing, and a device for fixing the ball joint and having a support for the bearing element and an adjusting device in operative connection with the support in order to displace the bearing element against the ball joint to achieve the clamping action.
The Carnevali Patent Application discloses a mounting device. It has the innovations of: “The stem 210 is provided with an internally threaded longitudinal bore 212 that is structured to engage the threaded rod 206. An outer end of the stem adjacent to the threaded bore 212 is formed with a hex shaped lip 214 sized to received into and mate with the hexagonal counter-bore 51 at the center of the boss or land 49 surrounding the aperture 47 formed through either one of the respective arm sections 7,9. The stem 210 is thus provided with means for fixing the ball-end mount 208 against rotation relative to the respective arm sections 7,9 during threading and unthreading of the threaded knob 65 in operation.”
The Brandes Patent is a mounting head for a spotting scope which discloses the ball-bearing concept.
Finally, the Johnson Published Patent Application is a tripod head which discloses a ball bearing and its ability to rotate in various directions. In the tripod of this invention, the ball member is generally a spherical ball having an extension for connecting to a locking device and the locking device normally consists essentially of a split clamp having a recess adapted to mate with a plate attached to the optical instrument and a clamp is used for securing the ball in place in the housing.
There is a significant need to provide an attachment to a camera, particularly for camera equipped with a long lens so that the camera can be supported to any positions in three dimensional space.